1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to a user interface device, an image displaying method, and a computer program product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional image processors such as copying devices, facsimile devices, and printers require users to select a function to be performed to set the contents of the function. For example, it is necessary to perform a setting of a state of a document such as paper type and density, a setting of an image processing such as zoom in and zoom out of an image, a single-sided/double-sided printing, and a margin setting, and a setting of a post-processing such as sorting, stapling, and punching.
Therefore, the conventional image processors prepare a plurality of functions for the settings, and the users are required to perform various settings to obtain a desired processing result.
However, the users cannot figure out the final processing results, for example, the printed results, until the document is actually printed out, and in some cases, the results may be undesirable.
To solve the above problem, a preview displaying device has been proposed, which displays a preview image indicating the printed result (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-5471). In addition, an image processing apparatus has been proposed, which displays, when an image data according to various paper types is selected, a preview of the image printed on the paper of the selected paper type (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-103726). Furthermore, an image forming system has been proposed, which displays a preview by synthesizing a plurality of edited image data (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-234503 discloses).
The conventional technologies display the processed images of the processing results according to the settings, one by one, or by synthesizing the images. By performing the setting operations through the preview images such as modifying the setting, the setting-can be performed after the result is confirmed, so that the desired image output can be acquired.
However, the conventional technologies merely display the processed images for the processing result, one by one, or by synthesizing the images. Therefore, when there are a number of images, the users can hardly confirm the images at once because the users have to turn pages one by one to identify holistic configurations of all the images and to find specific images.